Let’s take a look at the importance of cyber security in vehicles.

The number of reported cyber incidents in modern software-defined vehicles has been growing year on year. The only way to reduce the risk is to introduce proper cybersecurity solutions into in-vehicle communication and vehicle-to-everything communications. All connections need to be secure as any of them could work as an attack surface for hackers.

Many companies in the automotive field are already prepared and are bringing in processes and best practices from ISO 21434 and R155, which are the most popular ones mentioned in the cyber maturity report from ETAS.

Properly designed solutions use secure protocols like MACsec for in-vehicle connections, IPsec for vehicle-to-vehicle connections and vehicle-to-cloud connections, and D/TLS for application-layer security. When data is properly secured, it is also encrypted, so even if it ends up in the wrong hands, hackers could not use it.

Connectivity stack selection is important, as some of the old stacks might have old code and high cyclomatic complexity, which increases the risks of cyberattacks and functional safety problems. It is better to select a company that specializes in connectivity stacks and actively maintains its products to ensure compliance with the latest requirements.

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1. https://www.etas.com/download-center-files/DLC_products_ESCRYPT/etas-automotive-cyber-maturity-report-2024-en-20240719.pdf